Chapter 2. I want to go straight into Nicodemus.
The Lord is speaking with him. We have chapter and verse divisions
for our benefit, for us to look scriptures up. But that paragraph
begins in chapter 2, verse 23 and runs all the way down to
verse 13 of chapter 3. I was going to go straight into
Nicodemus, but I think it would do us very well to look at these
last three verses of chapter 2 tonight. I was brought in remembrance
of something my brother used to ask me. He was much older
than I am. I'd come home from school every day and he'd say,
did you learn anything today? I was a little kid. No, I didn't. Well, I don't know. That's why
you go. I don't know everything, do I? And every now and then,
I'd have something. I'd just caught my ear or I'd never heard
before and I'd tell him about it. He'd say, well, that's good.
Next day, you learn anything today? No. I wasn't learning nothing,
was I? But all of a sudden, I could
read. Maybe I was learning more than I thought I was when I didn't
think I was learning anything. Our text tonight ought to get
our attention. It ought to stand out to us. And Lord willing,
this will disturb those that are comfortable. Those are just
easy going and no troubles and willy-nilly walking this earth.
I hope it troubles them. And those that are troubled,
when we consider the Lord's law, when we see ourselves trying
to fulfill it, uh-oh, I have no hope. I want to bring comfort
to those people. They might believe on Christ.
Believe in on Christ. Bow unto His Lordship. That's what we're going to see
the results of tonight. The children of God, we don't
just acknowledge Christ is a sinner's righteousness. He is a sinner's
righteousness. If a sinner's ever going to have
any righteousness, it's going to be Christ. But we bow to Him
in complete surrender to Him. And we cling on to Him. And we praise Him. It's not a
fact we acknowledge. We desperately cling to Him.
We believe on Him. We don't just have a knowledge
of what Christ is. He's holy. He's omnipresent,
omniscient, omnipotent. We cling to who He is and we
bow to Him. We cling in fear and trembling
to His person, this Holy God, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful
God. Get a hold of Him. I ain't gonna let you go. And we wouldn't have it any other
way. People say, that sounds terrible. No, it don't. That's
rejoicing. Why are you crying? You said,
I ain't sad. I'm rejoicing. I got somebody
to cling to, somebody worth clinging to. We cling to Him. We believe
on and bow to His person and His finished work, and we praise
Him for both of them. Thank You, Lord. Thank You for
who You are. Thank You for what You did. Thank
You. Here in John 2 verse 23, it says,
Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast
day, many believed in His name. when they saw the miracles which
He did. It says, many people believed
in His name. They believed. That word believe
means to have faith, to entrust one's spiritual well-being, to
fully entrust someone. But in verse 24 there, it says,
but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them. That word commit,
that's the exact same word. There's no difference. It means
to entrust one to commit to one, to fully give yourself over to
one. It says they believed in Him, but Christ did not commit
Himself to them. I can only say how that happened
and why that happened by what the Lord's Word tells us. It
says there in verse 24, but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them
because He knew all. He knew all. Men there is in
italics. And it's true that the Lord knows all men. But it's
first true, He knows all." For this message, I don't want to
look at italics, men. He knows all. Verse 25 said,
"...and needed not that any should testify of man." He didn't need
those people to tell Him what they believed in. He didn't need
to tell Him what their faith was in. They didn't have to tell
Him where the source of their faith came from. Why? For He
knew what was in man. He knows all. And in knowing
all, He knows what is in all of mankind. I can fool you. You can fool me. I can have all
the right words. I can read some books and memorize
some things, and boy, I can just church it up and sound just right. I can't fool God. This is completely
individual. Ain't nobody else can believe
for you. Ain't nobody else can hide for you either. We need
to hear this individually. Many there at the temple, they
believed in Christ, and they outwardly and physically submitted
to Him. But the source of that confession
is at the end of verse 23, when they saw the miracles which He
did. That's a stony ground here. It sprung up for a little while,
but there was no root. There was no root and no fruit.
Burn up. This is a great fear of mine.
I grew up believing parents. I grew up under the sound of
the gospel since I can remember remembering. And there was a
time in my life that troubled me often. Do I believe this just
because mom and daddy did? Are these facts to me? And I just recite them? I regurgitate
them? Am I that dog that barks when you give it a treat and
you say election? Is that me? I pray the Lord is
merciful to me, and I don't just believe in Christ by some other
means. There's something else He's standing
on. I saw some miracles. I heard
some things. I experienced some things. There's
something in me. But that I solely believe on Him, and then, if
I do, He's pleased to make me believe on Him, I'll certainly
believe in Him. A dear brother of mine said that.
He said, it's like looking at a ship. We can go down there
to the docks and we can look at the midway. We can believe
in the midway. The midway's right there. That
big old boat's sitting right there in the harbor. And not
get on the midway. But if we go up on that flight
deck and we're staying on that big old boat, we're leaving on
the midway, you'll definitely believe in the midway. You're
standing on it. That's the difference. Just like
that sanctuary city, city of refuge. Saving faith. Believing
unto eternal life on Christ alone and Him alone. Having our Lord
commit Himself to one of His children. We believe on Him and
He commits Himself to us. He entrusts our spiritual well-being
that He's in charge of to us. It gives us saving faith. That's
not in understanding. It's not in agreeing with doctrines. It's not in logical submission.
Not in miracles. Well, I saw some miracles. I
saw a blind man. Hell, it makes sense. It probably ought to be
on that man's side. It's not in those things. Saving
faith and believing faith, it comes from Christ giving life
to one of his children. Being born again, the new birth.
And when you're born anew at incorruptible seed in you, you're
going to agree with the Lord's Word. You're going to have a
better understanding of what you had. We'll still see through
a glass darkly, but we'll understand it. I get it. I get it now. And
we're going to submit to Him and cling to Him. Praise Him
and worship Him. That's what we'll have. It's
not mankind electing Christ, choosing Him, allowing Him to
save them, voting for Him. It's the Lord electing sinners
in Christ. His good pleasure and will to make you His child,
to make you His workmanship. and then His doing to make His
people born of that incorruptible seed, and then He waters them
with His Word, He grows them in grace and in knowledge, and
He keeps them for eternity. It's every bit His business.
I want to look a little bit at those that Christ did not commit
Himself to. That could be a stark warning
for us. Let's turn over to Mark chapter
10. Mark chapter 10. Believing in your morality, doing
good things, clean living, good intentions, being a good citizen,
that does not save a person. Here in Mark 10 verse 17. And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him. Boy, that's
good, isn't it? Come to Christ. Come to Him right now. Run. Kneel
before Him. Bow. It looks good on the outside,
doesn't it? Well, there came one running and kneeled to Him
and asked, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit
eternal life? What do I need to do? What do
I need to do if I can inherit? How do you have an inheritance
with your children? They have to be born, don't they? What
shall I do? And Jesus said unto him, Why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one, and
that's God. The first thing He establishes
is the Lordship of Christ. He is the good master because
He's God. God Almighty in the flesh. You
aren't going to do anything to save yourself. Salvation is of
the Lord. Man's incapable of that. Verse 19, Thou knowest
the commandments. You want to do something, you
know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill.
Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Defraud
not. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Outwardly it may look good. How have you done that on the
inside? And answered, and this young
fellow answered him and said unto him, Master, I have these,
all these have I observed from my youth. I've kept the whole
law. And you know what? I bet he honored
his mother and his father. I bet he never stole anything.
I bet he never killed no one. I bet he didn't commit adultery.
Outwardly, anyway. That's not what's in the heart,
is it? That's just what we see. That's the running and the kneeling
you can, another man can look upon. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross, follow me. He said, Love the Lord God with
all your heart, mind, soul, spirit, everything in you, and love your
neighbor as yourself. That's the sum of the whole law.
Oh, now we got down to shoe leather. This ain't a checklist no more,
isn't it? Go do that. It says in verse 22, and he was
sad at that saying and went away greed for he had great possessions. Some think this is solitarsis,
and I can understand that. I get it. We'll see more of that,
because it said the Lord loved him. We'll see more of that in
a little bit with Nicodemus, but there wasn't an issue with
that man's riches. The Lord saved all kinds of rich
folks, didn't he? David, and Solomon, and Job, and a whole
mess of people. The riches ain't the problem.
But there was an issue in the heart. He thought his morality,
his law-keeping made him worthy. And the Lord shut him up to his
own self-righteousness and his own greed. With a few short words, didn't
take much. And that he didn't love his neighbor
as himself. When the Lord showed him his sin, he didn't beg for
mercy. He didn't cry out to the very
one that could save him right in front of him. He went away
grieved. Don't stand on your morality.
Law keeping ain't gonna do it. Morality and heritage. Turn over
to John chapter 8. Our natural birth. That's what
these Jews and Gentiles were looking at. But it's also what
you naturally grew up under. What denomination you were brought
up in. What denomination you joined up with. That doesn't
save a person. Our morality, our heritage, our
denominations, that doesn't save nobody. Christ was preaching
to all those people and He told them, the Son sets you free,
you shall be free indeed. It says there in verse 38, John
8, 38. I speak that which I have seen
with my Father, and ye do that which ye have seen with your
Father. And they answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our
father. Jesus saith unto him, if you are Abraham's children,
his spiritual children. You would do the works of Abraham.
Believe the Lord, love your brethren. But now you seek to kill me,
a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of
God. This did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father."
Then they said to him, we be not born of fornication. We have
one father, God. Jesus said unto him, if God were
your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and came
from God. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. Why do you not understand my
speech? Because you cannot hear my word. You have ears, but they
don't hear. Dead man. Being born into a family
of believers and frightfully being associated with a gospel
church that preaches the truth. Those are wonderful things. Those
are means by which the Lord may be pleased to save His children. But having the right parents
and being in the right pew seat has never saved anyone. Being
born of God, being made a new creature, being His workmanship,
that's sonship. You have to be born. That's salvation.
He has to do it. Paul said, it's not those that
are circumcised outwardly. in the flesh that are the Lord's
people. Now you take, like we do there
in Galatians, you take circumcision out and put it in anything else.
It's not those that don't cuss outwardly. It's not those that
don't drink outwardly. It's not those that are circumcised
outwardly. It ain't got nothing to do with outwardly. It's those
that have a heart work done. Those that are circumcised in
the heart. And who does that? The Lord gave a circumcision
to Moses, and he said, you do this, but I'll circumcise my
people's hearts. I'm going to cut them. Make them
anew. Give them life. Morality won't save us. Heritage
and denominations won't do it. And good intentions to promise
for the future. A pledge to follow. I signed a pledge card. I can
pull it out and look at it any time. That's a big record book.
If you have doubts, well get in your wallet. Ain't you got
your card? Card ain't going to save nobody, is it? Turn over
to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9, verse 57. And it came to pass that as they
went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow
thee whithersoever thou goest. I'll follow you, Lord. Jesus
said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man hath not a place where to lay his head. And he
said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, let the
dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of
God. And another said also, Lord,
I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell, which
are at home in my house. Jesus said unto him, no man having
put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom
of God. There are some that are rejected
of the Lord because they believe in Him. And they give a good
pledge, Lord, I'll follow You. His children do the same thing,
don't they? Peter said, Lord, I'll never forsake You. Well,
in and of ourselves, we will. Follow the Lord in and of ourselves,
we won't. But they come to Him on the grounds of their promise.
Their promise. Not His promises. Not the promises
of the Lord. Lord, I promise. Our promises
don't mean nothing, does it? I promise I'll be there tomorrow.
I may not be alive tomorrow. I stand on His promises. I promise
one day down the road, I'll follow You. The Lord will not commit
Himself to those that are coming on the grounds of morality. They're
coming on their heritage, their lineage, their denominations.
He won't commit Himself to those that are standing on their pledges.
Not his pledges, their pledges. And he does not commit himself
to those looking for personal benefit. That's an industry,
a multi-billion dollar industry in this nation right now. Even
in the Lord's time. They said if we make this man
king, we won't ever have to worry about famine. He fed 5,000. I'll
just join up with him. I ain't never gonna go hungry
again. We don't need hospitals. He heals the sick. What if I
go blind? I don't need dental insurance. I don't need eye insurance.
I don't have to worry about buying glasses ever again. We'll make
him king. We can't make him king. He is
king. We won't need judges to settle
arguments over inheritance. That's what one man did to another.
Lord, you be the judge. My brother ain't giving me my
inheritance like he ought to. He ain't sharing with me. Sort
that out. What about taxes? Do we need to pay taxes? Go to
him. Do you pay taxes to Caesar? He said, give me a penny. Whose
face is on it? Solve all kinds of problems,
wouldn't it? Money. Sadly, people use Malachi 3 there
to get seed money. They say, oh, you tithe, put
into the storehouse, and you ain't going to out give the Lord.
He'll pour out a blessing from heaven on you. You may give everything
you have financially to the support of the gospel, and you may end
up broke. Lord it says He's going to pour out money on you. He
says He's going to pour out blessings. If He gives you the heart to
do that, you'll be happy. You'll be content in Him knowing
what He's poured out His blood for you. You're not going to indebt God
to you. You're not going to twist His arm and back Him into a corner
and take advantage of Him. Won't happen. Professions of faith don't save
people either. Turn back in our text there and
look at John chapter 3. Religious knowledge, understanding,
logic, being a student of the Scriptures. That doesn't save
anybody. Here in John 3 verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. And the same came to Jesus
by night. He wouldn't do it in the daytime.
And said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God. We know you're a teacher come
from God. He doesn't know that he is God. For no man can do
these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. One sentence,
Nicodemus, everything you've based your whole life on, everything
you know, everything you've thought, every family Thanksgiving dinner
you went to, is nothing. Throw it out the window. Garbage.
Every bit of it. You gotta be born again. Nicodemus
saith unto him, how can a man be born again when he's old?
Can he enter the second time to his mother's womb and be born?
That's his knowledge and understanding, isn't it? Man, by nature, judges
the Lord in our limitations. Well, I can't fly through the
air. You can't. We can't go into our mother's
womb again. What are you talking about? Jesus answered and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's all we are. And that which is born of the
Spirit, capital S, is Spirit, lowercase, Spirit. That which
is born of the Spirit of God. The Lord, He is the five W's
of salvation. He decides who's saved, by what
means they're saved, when they're saved, where they're saved at,
and why they're saved, because of Him. Every bit of it. Look back at chapter 2, verse
23 again. Now when He was in Jerusalem
at the Passover and the feast day, many believed in His name
when they saw the miracles which He did. But Jesus did not commit
Himself unto them because He knew all. He knew all. He didn't commit Himself to those
that believed because of those miracles. But also with the wind. He didn't commit Himself to them
right then, at that time. I don't know how many He came
to and revealed Himself to in the future. I don't know. How
many He circumcised in their hearts a year from then or five
years from then or twenty years from then? I don't know. But
it appears that Nicodemus believed and had Christ commit Himself
to him. That's the way it looks to us. The Lord spoke to Nicodemus
here in John 3 and we don't see a result. This is one of the
most famous text of scripture, you can pick a random person
off the street and say, can you read John 3.16? Do you know that?
And they can get some words out, couldn't they? All kinds of people have read
this. Nicodemus didn't have a reply. Not at that time. There was no public confession
of faith. He didn't ask the Lord to baptize him. He didn't beg
Christ not to leave him. Lord, let me go with you. I want
to follow you. Don't leave me. But being in
that group of who the Lord performed miracles in front of, and Christ
not committing Himself to Him, that's where He started. I don't
want to get too far ahead, but turn over to John chapter 7.
I don't want to get far ahead from next Wednesday. John chapter
7. Nicodemus went against the grain.
Our Lord preached to those at the feast. It says in John 7
verse 37, If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the
Scriptures hath saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. He that believeth on Me, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Then the officers,
they came to the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they didn't
bring Christ with them. They witnessed all this. They
heard Christ preaching, but they didn't apprehend Him. A bunch
of them wanted to. They weren't able. But they went back to the
The religious people. And they said, we've never heard
any man speak like this. So why did you bring him? Never
heard anybody say something like that. And the Pharisees said,
are you deceived too? Have the rulers and the other
Pharisees, have they believed on him? We know that those that
know the law, that are outside the law, they're cursed already.
But what about our people? What about the rulers? What about
the Pharisees? Are they believing on him? Any Pharisees believing
on Christ? And they got their answer from
Nicodemus. Look here in verse 50. John 7 verse 50. Nicodemus saith unto him, He
that came to Jesus by not being one of them, Doth our law judge
any man before it hear him and know what he doeth? Before he
just heard it, didn't say a word, left. Down the road a ways, He
says, you know what, let's hear this fellow out. I want to hear
this man out. Let's not judge him just yet.
Let's hear him. And they answered, said unto him, Art thou also
of Galilee? Are you from an undesirable place,
Nicodemus? Are you a sinner? Is that what
you are? Search and look, for out of Galilee
ariseth no prophet. They said, go home and read your
Bible. You hush, Nicodemus. We don't hear nothing out of
you. Then after the Lord gave up the ghost, over John 19, our Lord hung on the tree for
His people. He bled and He died willingly. And He gave up the
ghost. And Joseph of Arimathea went
and asked Pilate, said, give us His body before these Jews
get a hold of Him. We want to bury Him. And Pilate
did. He gave Him leave. It says in John 19, verse 39,
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus
by night, same one, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about a hundred-pound weight. And they took the body of Jesus
and wound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the manner
of the Jews is to bury." This man that was there and believed
in Christ didn't hear nothing. The Lord spoke to him directly,
preached to him. Nothing is recorded. Then down
the road, he said, Let's give ear to this man. Let's hear him
out. And now he's the very one that brought a hundred pounds
of myrrh and aloe. That ain't free, is it? And that's
heavy. To anoint our Lord's body, to wrap him in cloths, put the
spices on him and put him in the grave. What can you and I
take from that? Just because the gospel is preached
and it's not received, there seems to be no blessing of it.
That does not mean the Lord may not be pleased to bless His Word
in the future. Just because someone makes a
profession of faith, and they seem to hear the Gospel, and
then they just walk away from it, have no interest in it, maybe
for a month, maybe for a year, maybe for two decades. I don't
know. It doesn't mean the Lord ain't
going to use His Word in their heart and bring them to Him.
I've seen this happen several times. I've seen it personally
happen. Somebody run from the Lord. If you're His, you ain't
going to get away. What do believers do during these
times? If somebody doesn't look like the Lord's blessing the
message, or works somewhere, or somebody had heard something,
they seem blessed, and they took off, and they don't seem to have
any interest. What do we do? What do we do
to our loved ones that's had the Gospel preached to them,
and they care less? Makes no impact on them whatsoever.
What do we do? We continue to pray. We pray
for them. If there's breath in the lungs
of a human being, the Lord may still be pleased to commit Himself
to that sinner. Do a work in their heart. Cause
them to believe on Him. Give them spiritual life. He'll
make His Word alive to them. That Word that they were trained
up from their youth. What they've heard in the past. That's what
that means. And He may quicken them, bring to life, may be brought
to remembrance like His disciples. Where it says there at the end
of chapter 2 of John that they remembered all these things.
He said, you tear this temple down, I'll raise it again in
three days. And whenever He was on the cross and He rose again
from the grave, then they remembered the words. That's three years
later, wasn't it? It might be a while. We continue
to pray. That also goes for daily comfort
for us. You have been born of water and
spirit. I want fed and I want comforted.
I want to honor the Lord. I want to praise His name. I
want to exalt Him. But I want comforted too. Sometimes
I don't get that. What are we going to do? I had
my dog who was eating pizza the other day and she sits right
next to me and she was a big dog. I could give her a piece
of crumbs that big and she'll jump so hard at it and bite the
air and whimper and whine and do anything she can and it's
completely unashamed. That little mercy beggar has
no qualms, there's no embarrassment on her begging for crumbs. And I thought, Lord, I'm a dog.
Give me a crumb. I just want one of your crumbs.
And unashamedly, I'll beg for it. I was sitting at our table
eating pizza. And I thought, what big ol' steaks
and prime rib my Lord gives me. Delicious. Thank you, Lord. Comforted. When Christ commits Himself to
a sinner, what's the result? We know those that We know it's
not those that stand in their heritage. That's not who He commits
Himself to. Those that stand in their morality,
those that stand in the past or in the future, those that
have their knowledge and their religious standings, we know
it's not those. Still clinging to those idols
of hope and assurance. It does not profit Him. Who does the Lord commit Himself
to? That publican in the temple. There's a Pharisee praying unto
himself, O Lord, I thank Thee. That sounds like He's giving
credit, don't it? I, I, I, I, I, I, I. And then here's a despised
person that won't even look up. Beats on his chest and says,
Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. How'd he do that? Why would he
do something like that? Because Christ had committed himself
to him. He had entrusted his salvation to Christ himself and
gave it to him. Peter walked on the water. He
said, Lord, bid me, I want to come out there with you. When
Peter was coming down out of the ship, he walked on the water
to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind bolsterous, he looked
around him. He wasn't looking across. He
looked at the wind. He looked at the seas. He looked up. What
are we going to do? It began sinking. He was afraid.
It began to sink and he cried saying, Lord, save me. Jesus, save me. Help me upstairs. Help me. Lord, save me. And when we went to Scripture,
the Lord immediately grabbed ahold of him. Immediately. Lord,
save me. Christ had committed himself
to Peter. And Peter committed all against that day to him.
That's what he did. We got time. Let's turn over
to Mark chapter 10 and I'll close. Mark chapter 10, verse 46. And they came to Jericho. And
as He went out of Jericho with His disciples, a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out saying, Son of David,
have mercy on me. He's saying, you're the Christ.
You're the one sent. Have mercy on me. And many charged
him that he should hold his peace. They said, hush it. Quit talking
out like that, Bartimaeus. What's wrong with you? Don't
you know any better? Be quiet. They charged him he should hold
his peace, but he cried the more a great deal. Thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. He believed in Christ. He believed
in Him. And what's going to make a difference?
Look here in verse 49. Jesus stood still and commanded
him to be called. What's it going to take for me
to not only believe in Christ, but to believe on Christ? He
has to command it. He has to command it. and commanded
him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise. He calleth thee. I don't know the hearts of men.
I don't know what happens in y'all's lives. I don't know what's
inside of your minds. Call on him. Beg for mercy. And if you do, if He's given
you the heart to beg for mercy, you be of good comfort. You rise
because He's called you. If you're calling on Him, it's
because He called you. What comfort that is. You're
just, Lord, I'm a sinner. Save me. God gave that to you. He's done a work in you. In verse
51, Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should
do unto thee? And the blind man said unto Him,
Lord, Caught him a son of David before, didn't he? That's true.
That's true. Now he is his Lord. He's bowed
to the Lordship of Christ, Lord of everything. He is my God and
my Lord. Oh Lord, our Lord. That's who
he cried to. The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him,
Go thy way. You go any way you want. You do what you want. He said,
if I was you, if I believed the gospel, you'd believe I'd do
anything I want. Exactly, you would. Because that's what you
want to do. He said, go thy way. Thy faith. Take faith out and put Christ.
Thy Christ hath made thee whole. Was that Bartimaeus' faith? It
absolutely was. It was the faith of Christ put
in Bartimaeus and it's his. That's his inheritance. Christ
dwelling in you. He said, you go anywhere you
want to, your faith has made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. God calls somebody to believe
on Him. They're going to believe in Him. And they'll turn from
and reject and just be disgusted. Just, I don't want to think about
it. their morality that they stood on, their heritage they
stood on, all the good things they did, all the promises and
commitments they made and the pledge cards they filled out,
and they don't want nothing to do with it. All that religion.
And they're going to follow Him. That's what they want to do. I'm going to follow the Lord.
I'm going to believe Him. Lord, I believe, forgive thou
my unbelief. What's that? Have mercy on me. I won't be
where you are. I want to abide where you are
for eternity. Amen.